by - Constance Wu said she was sexually harassed by a “Fresh Off the Boat” producer.
- She said she remained silent so as not to diminish the show’s Asian American representation.
- She claimed that this unnamed producer harassed other Asian actors.
In an interview on Wednesday’s episode of “Red Table Talk,” Constance Wu said she was sexually harassed by a “Fresh Off the Boat” producer.
Wu received public backlash after she tweeted in 2019 that she was unhappy that ABC chose to renew “Fresh Off the Boat” for a sixth season. She withdrew from the public eye for three years after the controversy.
“It’s funny ’cause people basically wrote me off because I was ungrateful and ungrateful. And they were saying that I wasn’t thinking about other people’s business on the show and how selfish that was and how I was acting like a diva.”Crazy Rich Asians,” the star said.
“What people didn’t realize is that during my first two years on ‘Fresh Off the Boat,’ I was sexually harassed and bullied and threatened all the time,” she told “Red Table Talk” host Jada Pinkett Smith. , Adrienne Banfield-Norris and Willow Smith.
Wu wrote about the experiences in her memoir “Making a Scene,” which was released Tuesday. She said the producer, whom she chose not to name, told her to wear short skirts while she still could.
Excerpts from her book read aloud on the show said he contacted her late at night and asked her to send him selfies. She said on one occasion, he rubbed her leg and tried to touch her pelvic area.
Wu said she was afraid of being uncomfortable speaking out and wanted to appear to be “part of the boys’ club”. Wu also said she hid her experiences because she didn’t want to tarnish the producer’s image.
“Because that show was kind of a beacon of representation for Asian Americans, and I became an icon of representation, I didn’t want to hurt the one show with allegations of sexual harassment against an Asian American who was doing all this better work for the community,” she said during the during the conversation on “Red Table Talk”.
Wu talks in her memoir, “Making A Scene.”
NBC and Warner Bros. Pictures
“This producer, he’s Asian American, and the most painful thing was that he was so condescending and harassing towards me,” she said on the show.
Wu said she disclosed her experiences to others on set when it happened. “No one encouraged me to go to HR because they didn’t want the show to be cancelled,” she said. She also discussed how it affected her mental health.
Wu said the producer respects women of other backgrounds, but was inappropriate with her. She also said other Asian actors told her they had similar experiences with the producer.
“I’ve since heard accounts from other Asian actresses saying, ‘Oh yeah, me too!’ It’s an interesting phenomenon that makes you feel quite alone,” he said.
Wu previously discussed how she felt about the “quite traumatic experience” at The Atlantic Festival in September.
—The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) September 23, 2022
ABC representatives did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. Wu’s representatives declined to comment when reached by Insider and pointed to Wu’s new memoir, “Making a Scene,” where she talks about the incident further.
